Testing confirmed widespread exposure of saxitoxin in marine mammals and other wildlife.
June 4, 2025 — New research establishes the first known link between the neurotoxin saxitoxin, accumulated during harmful algal blooms, and deaths of northern fur seals in the southeast Bering Sea. The study was published in the journal Marine Mammal Science.
In the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from 10 dead northern fur seals and hundreds of dead, mostly benthic, fish that washed ashore on a popular beachcombing beach on St. Paul Island, Alaska, in August 2024. St. Paul Island is home to the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, an Unangax̂ Tribe.
“As the Arctic Ocean ecosystem gets warmer, harmful algal blooms are becoming more frequent, getting stronger, and spreading further,” said Dr. Kathi Lefebvre, a research biologist at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the study.
“The findings of this study deepen our understanding of the…
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